Salem station (Oregon)

Salem, OR
General information
Location	500 13th Street SE Salem, Oregon United States
Coordinates	44°55′56″N123°01′41″W / 44.93222°N 123.02806°W / 44.93222; -123.02806
Owned by	State of Oregon
Line(s)	Union Pacific Railroad
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	1
Connections	Cascades POINT Cherriots Greyhound Lines Shuttle Oregon The Wave
Construction
Parking	25 long term spaces
Bicycle facilities	Yes
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	Amtrak: SLM
History
Opened	1918;107 years ago (1918)
Rebuilt	2000;25 years ago (2000)
Passengers
FY 2023	73,171 [1] (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Albany toward Eugene Amtrak Cascades Oregon City toward Vancouver, British Columbia Albany toward Los Angeles Coast Starlight Portland toward Seattle
Former services Preceding station Southern Pacific Railroad Following station Turner toward Oakland Pier Shasta Route Chemawa toward Portland
Salem Southern Pacific Railroad Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
A close up picture at night.
Area	2.7 acres (1.1 ha)
Built	1918 (1918)
Architect	Christie, J.H.; Stebinger Bros.
Architectural style	Queen Anne, Beaux-Arts
NRHP reference No.	10000015 [2]
Added to NRHP	February 12, 2010
Location

Salem station is an Amtrak train station in Salem, Oregon, United States. It is served by Amtrak Cascades corridor trains going to and from Portland, Oregon, as well as the long-distance Coast Starlight. Greyhound Lines and some regional buses also stop at the station.

History

Trackside of Salem Depot

This station was constructed for the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1918 and is the third station to be built at this location. ^[3] The two previous stations were built in 1871 and 1889. ^[4] The 1871 depot burned down in 1885. ^[4] It is commonly believed that the Queen Anne style 1889 depot burned down on March 5, 1917, ^[4] but newspaper reports from the time say it was unsightly and, except for the baggage wing, demolished. ^[5]

The current Beaux-Arts-style structure was designed by Southern Pacific's chief architect John H. Christie. ^{[6] [7]} It is constructed of masonry, and is one of five masonry depots that still exist along the original Southern Pacific West Coast line. The other depots are in Albany, Medford, Roseburg and Eugene. ^[8]

A restoration project by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) was completed in 2000. ^{[3] [9]} Amtrak leases the station from ODOT for $1 a year, in exchange for maintenance of the building and grounds.^{[ citation needed ]}

An 1889 Railway Express Agency (REA) freight depot/baggage shed from the previous station was kept and is the oldest freight depot still in existence in the state.^{[ citation needed ]} Either after the 1917 fire or in preparation for constructing the new depot, the Queen Anne-style REA depot was relocated from its original site to the south. ^{[4] [5]} The REA depot had not been used since the mid-1970s, but ODOT restored it in the late 2000s for use by Greyhound. ^[10]

The station and baggage depot were added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 12, 2010. ^[11] In 2011, daily ridership on Amtrak between Salem and Portland reached 24,146 boardings. ^[12]

Greyhound Lines moved operations from its downtown station to here in 2013, first to the north wing of the station building and, upon completion of renovations in 2018, to the former freight shed. ^{[13] [14] [15]}

References

1. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year 2023: State of Oregon" (PDF). Amtrak. March 2024. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
3. "Salem's Railroad Depots". Salem Online History. Archived from the original on August 11, 2007. Retrieved September 19, 2007.
4. "Salem City Council Agenda: National Register of Historic Places Nomination for Southern Pacific Railroad Depot" (PDF). City of Salem. October 12, 2009. Retrieved October 12, 2009.^{[ permanent dead link ‍]}
5. Salem Depots Historic Explanation.pdf
6. "Oregon Digital". oregondigital.org. Archived from the original on May 10, 2017. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
7. "Salem, OR — Great American Stations". www.greatamericanstations.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
8. Christie, Tim (September 7, 2007). "Railroad depot speeds into history books". The Register-Guard . Retrieved September 19, 2007.^{[ dead link ‍]}
9. "Oregon Dept. of Transportation Museum". Oregon Department of Transportation. Archived from the original on December 15, 2006. Retrieved September 19, 2007.
10. "Communications Salem Railroad Baggage Depot Project". Archived from the original on May 8, 2017. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
11. National Park Service (February 19, 2010). "Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 2/08/10 through 2/12/10". Archived from the original on March 2, 2010. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
12. Rose, Joseph (March 5, 2012). "Amtrak gaining popularity among commuters who ride between Portland, Oregon City and Salem". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on March 6, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
13. Henderson, Tom (April 29, 2013). "Greyhound on the move in Salem". Daily Journal of Commerce. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
14. Rose, Michael (May 7, 2013). "Greyhound to move bus depot to Amtrak station". Statesman Journal . Archived from the original on November 8, 2023. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
15. Lynn, Capi (January 30, 2018). "After $2.7 million renovation, historic depot reopens in Salem". Statesman Journal.

External links

Media related to Salem Southern Pacific Railroad Station at Wikimedia Commons

• Salem, OR – Amtrak
• Salem, OR – Station history at Great American Stations (Amtrak)
• Historic images of the 1889 and 1918 depots from Salem Public Library
• Amtrak Stations Database
• Greyhound Lines station page